$300m in VAT owed

Article by Marlon Madden

MORE?THAN $300 million in Value Added Tax (VAT) was owed to the Barbados government as of last May 21.
And according to Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Chris Sinckler, there were vast insufficiencies in the current VAT legislation regarding debt recovery.
In delivering the feature address during the official launch of the Barbados VAT and Excise Tax Administration System (VETAS) yesterday at the Accra Beach Hotel, Sinckler described taxes owed to almost all of government’s revenue collecting agencies as “astronomical”.
He said the VAT arrears included principal, penalties and interest.
“This is very undesirable as it is unsustainable and particularly unacceptable.
“A review of the VAT legislation has highlighted an overwhelming inadequacy in terms of the powers it grants for actual debt recovery and related activities so necessary to a modern VAT administration to operate an effective arrears regime,” Sinckler said.
Full story in today’s SATURDAY SUN.